nzfooty wrote:Stage One winners Urawa got an absolute lashing in the first leg of the Yamazaki Nabisco Cup (League Cup) quarter-finals last night. The second half of the season is not working out for them.

What's people's thoughts on supporting your 'local' as in nearest club vs supporting a club actually from your city, even if they're miles away? I'm living just west of Tokyo for the next few months; Technically I'm in Kawasaki city, and there are Frontale posters all over the place here - however, I'm actually nowhere near their stadium, my apartment is pretty much the last building before the city boundary, and FC Tokyo and J2 Tokyo Verdy play about a mile away in Chofu... Leaning towards getting myself a Kawasaki Frontale shirt as I've heard good things about them being a proper community club, whereas Verdy are apparently a bit Franchise FC-like and I know nothing about FC Tokyo at all...

andyc24_uk wrote:What's people's thoughts on supporting your 'local' as in nearest club vs supporting a club actually from your city, even if they're miles away? I'm living just west of Tokyo for the next few months; Technically I'm in Kawasaki city, and there are Frontale posters all over the place here - however, I'm actually nowhere near their stadium, my apartment is pretty much the last building before the city boundary, and FC Tokyo and J2 Tokyo Verdy play about a mile away in Chofu... Leaning towards getting myself a Kawasaki Frontale shirt as I've heard good things about them being a proper community club, whereas Verdy are apparently a bit Franchise FC-like and I know nothing about FC Tokyo at all...

I'd normally say support your nearest club, mainly because it's easiest and because city boundaries can change whilst football teams cannot. But if your taxes are going to another team then I think you get to choose. It's you that needs to make the extra journey.

I feel a bit bad living in Hanover and supporting Havelse who are just outside the city limits, especially when they play Hannover's reserves in the league, but somehow Havelse seem like a real community team whereas Hannover 96 II are just the reserves of a money-bags advertising hoarding. Not to mention that none of my taxes go to Havelse

andyc24_uk wrote:What's people's thoughts on supporting your 'local' as in nearest club vs supporting a club actually from your city, even if they're miles away? I'm living just west of Tokyo for the next few months; Technically I'm in Kawasaki city, and there are Frontale posters all over the place here - however, I'm actually nowhere near their stadium, my apartment is pretty much the last building before the city boundary, and FC Tokyo and J2 Tokyo Verdy play about a mile away in Chofu... Leaning towards getting myself a Kawasaki Frontale shirt as I've heard good things about them being a proper community club, whereas Verdy are apparently a bit Franchise FC-like and I know nothing about FC Tokyo at all...

Well Fc Tokyo is fighting for a play-off spot in J-League and can reach ACL next year. Kawasaki Frontale is also one of the big teams in J-League but is not having a great season this year, despite they have one of the best strikers in J-League, Okubo. I like Frontale more than Fc Tokyo but this season Fc Tokyo has lot more chances to achieve big things than Frontale...

In 2001, the club moved from Kawasaki to Chōfu, Tokyo and was renamed Tokyo Verdy 1969 to reflect the new hometown and the club's origins as Yomiuri FC Although Verdy made the move to increase its fan base and distance itself from its rivals, by this time Tokyo was already home to a J1 club in F.C. Tokyo. Despite a sharp increase in crowd numbers for Verdy, this was still well below those of F.C. Tokyo. Their new local rivals had been promoted to J1 in 2000 and had already captured a vast number of the supporters Verdy had been hoping to acquire.

With a history like that I would probably stay away from Verdy. (And this despite the fact that I often end up supporting teams in green.) Been a while since I heard much about FC Tokyo, but I remember never really liking them when I was watching highlights on Ganbare J-League. Kawasaki Frontale does seem like they have a great relationship with the community. Maybe go to one match for each team and see which experience grabs you the most? Just stay away from Kashiwa Reysol.

In Yangju, if your cabbage doesn't understand you and you have valid reason for not eating it, then it is ok to go to other vegetables for your kimchi - though strictly nothing from south of Namyangju. -- Martyrs Forever

nzfooty wrote:Stage One winners Urawa got an absolute lashing in the first leg of the Yamazaki Nabisco Cup (League Cup) quarter-finals last night. The second half of the season is not working out for them.

Exciting stuff from Kashima Antlers - they not only won a thriller but are top of the stage 2 table on 31 points (together with Sanfrecce Hiroshima).

They will probably need to win the stage 2 league as they will probably not qualify with their overall record (would need to finish in top-3). If they do win stage 2 then the championship play-offs will be increased from 3 to 4 teams.

Exciting stuff from Kashima Antlers - they not only won a thriller but are top of the stage 2 table on 31 points (together with Sanfrecce Hiroshima).

They will probably need to win the stage 2 league as they will probably not qualify with their overall record (would need to finish in top-3). If they do win stage 2 then the championship play-offs will be increased from 3 to 4 teams.

J-League is on fire, big fight to reach the playoff:

Sanfrecce Hiroshima is battling with Urawa Reds to win the overall table and earn a spot in playoff final;Kashima Antlers is fighting with Sanfrecce to win the 2nd stage;Gamba Osaka is battling with FC Tokyo for the 3rd spot in overall table and a place in playoff.

In Yangju, if your cabbage doesn't understand you and you have valid reason for not eating it, then it is ok to go to other vegetables for your kimchi - though strictly nothing from south of Namyangju. -- Martyrs Forever